Shearing head clamping means for electric shaver



I July 29, 1958 s. KAHN SHEARING HEAD CLAMPING MEANS FOR ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Jan. 26. 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l 'TlqEl.

INVENTOR Sam/5L Am/lv 7 %0RNEY$ July 29, 1958 s. KAHN 2,

SHEARING HEAD CLAMPING MEANS FOR ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Jan. 26, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR SfiMl/EL KAI/N Q q BY 25 r x W k0 July 29, 1958 s. KAHN 2,84 ,8

SHEARING HEAD CLAMPING MEANS FOR ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Jan. 26. 1954 S SheetS-Sheet 3 42 T A z 44 F E INVENTOR 5040/54 lfiW/N BY 1 ORNEYS U i d St te atafi 1 a? 2,844,869 r HEAD 'CLAMPING MEANS FOR ELECTRICSHAYER;

Samuel Kahn, Bridgeport, Conn; assignor to Schick Iucorporated, Stamford, Count, a corporation of Delaware I Application January 26, 1954, Serial'No'. 06,179 I 4 Claims. (Cl-3043) SHEARING This invention has to do with electric shavers of the kind in which a shearing head unit, consisting j'of one or more pairs of outer and'inner, relatively movable cutters, is removably secured to the case which houses the electric drive motor.

Heretofore, the common practice has been to mount means comprising locking means associated with the ease and arranged to be operated to interlock with the lower.

portion or with the underside of the head unit, the latter being provided with suitable lug means for engagement by latch means forming part of the lockingmeans. The

present invention relates to head securing means of thatl type.

The general object and advantage o'fj,the invention: centers in the provision of locking meansarrangedso' to cooperate with the lugmeans as to'effect a,clamping action on the head unit, whereby it is not only held down against the case surface which its underside abuts but is also urged laterally and held in firm engagement with a stationary abutment, such as one of the head unit look: ing jaws. i

In its preferred form, the present invention. also pro vides locking means which comprise two separate ele-' ments, one manually manipulated and the other a'thrust element operated by it, the arrangement'being such that the manually manipulatedelement positively moves the thrust element both into and away from its clamping position and, in the clamping position of the parts as-f sumes a dead-center or' over-dead center' position where by movement of the thrust element away from clamp ing position is positively blocked.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the upper end of an electric shaver incorporating one form of the invention, the section being taken transversely of the head unit and on the line 1-1 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a'view of the upper end of the 'shaver in partial vertical section, the section being taken longitudinally of the head unit and on the line 22 of Fig. 3; f

Fig. 3 is a broken out horizontal section, ason the lines 3-'3 of Figs. 1 and 2; j Fig. 4 is a view generally similar to Fig. 3 but with the locking means in its oil or disengaged position;

Fig. 5 is an inverted view as on the line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a vertical section on the line 77 of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a vertical section similar to Fig. l but showing the locking means applied to a different type of shearing head unit;

dFig. 9 is a vertical section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8; an

Fig. 10 is a broken out vertical section similar to Figs. 1 and 8 but showing the locking means applied to still another type of shearing head unit.

The locking means illustrated are the same in all three of the'applications shown in the drawings and will be-described first, the same reference characters being used throughout.

These locking means consist of two elements, generally designated 1 and 2, the former being in the nature of an actuator arranged for manual manipulation and the latter a clamp or thrust element operated by the actuator.

' Both parts may conveniently consist of sheet metal stamp- In this illustrative form, the clamp actuator is adapted to partake of a rotary motion, having an arcuate portion 3, located in'a similarly shaped guide recess 4 in the case, and a projecting lever or operating arm 5. The maximum travel of the latter is determined by walls 6, 7 of the case recess 8 through which the operating lever projects to the exterior of the case. Thus, movement of the operating lever rotates of rocks the clamp actuator as a whole between the positions indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. I

The clamp actuator element in this form, and as is preferred, is-designed to move the clamp or thrust ele-' ment both into and out of its clamping positions and, accordingly, one of the elements is provided with an abutment and the vother with what is, in effect, a shifter fork; In the arrangement illustrated, the abutment is formed on the thrust element and the actuator element incorporates the ,shifter fork. The latter-consists. of a detent arm 9, for moving the thrust element into clamping position and a toe -10 for moving the thrust element but of clamping position. i

The thrust element lies on top of its actuator and is arranged "to partake of a sliding motion in a direction transversely of the length of the shearing head unit (describedt later Accordingly, the side edge portions of thetlirust element are located and confined in case recesses 15, 16' (Figs. 2, 3 and4).

Along part of its leading edge (the lower edge as viewed in Figs. 2 and 3) the thrust element has an abutmeht for engagement by the fork portion of the clamp actuator. As shown, this abutment may consist of a bent-down tab 17, the rear face of which is notched, as

at 18' (Figs. 2, 3).

Alongits trailing edge the thrust element has a second abutment,.shown as consisting of an up-turned tab 19.

This tab-is the actual clamping portion of the thrust element which serves to engage and lock the head unit in' place.

thatit? is shorter than the tabs of Figs. 1 and 10.

Referring now to the different types .of' head unit illustrated:

In Figs. 8 and 9 the tab, marked 19', differs only In Fig. -1 the shearing head unit consists of an outer.

cutter 20 and an inner cutter 21 of a well-known type, the inner cutter being adapted to be reciprocated by an actuator 22 which is oscillated in the usual manner by a suitable motor (not shown). As usual, the base block 23 of the outer cutter is ape'rtured to pass'and accommodate the movement of theinner cutter actuator; Also,, as usual, the' head unit is located' between case .jaws' Separated by a spacer member 32, The latter Patented July 29, 1953 In Fig. 10 the shearing head unit likewise consists of two pairs of cutters 40, 41 separated by spacer,m ember 42 but seated on and suitably secured to; a base plate 43. This base plate is apertured as at 44,v 45 to pass the inner cutter actuators 46, 47 and, in this instance, the

function of the lug means is served by the slopingplate.

face 48.

The operation of the locking means is the same in' The head unit is inserted in the case jaws.

all forms. with the clamp actuator and thrust element in the Fig. 4 or unlocked position, the unit seating on the case surfaces at the base of the space between the jaws (as 50 in Figs. 3 and 4). The operating arm 5 is then moved toward its Fig. 3 position. The free end of detent arm 9 engages tab 17 and, functioning as a cam, causes the thrust element to slide in its case recesses and its clamping tab 19 to engage the sloping. face of the head unit lug means (that is, the face 26 of Fig. 1, the face 34 of Fig. 8 or the face 48 of Fig. 10). The transverse linear movement of the clamping element serves to. urge the head unit firmly against a suitable stop, in this instance the,

inner face of the opposing case jaw, so as to hold the:

head unit securely against twisting in the jaws; and due.

to the fact that the upper end of tabs 19 and19 are bent over so as to overlie the engaged face of the lug means, the head unit is coincidently held down against removal from the jaws.

In the preferred form, the tabs 19, 19' are somewhat resilient and are engaged with the cooperating face of the head unit just before the operating arm 5 reaches the s end of its movement toward its Fig. 3 position. .The

final movement of arm 5, slightly springing tab.19 .(or. 19) engages the corner 11 of detent arm 9 with notch.

18 (Fig. 3). It will be recognized that with the. end of detent arm 9 and the face of notch 18 appropriately sloped sumes what for convenience can be termed a dead-center position in which the clamp element and actuator are selflocked in the clamping position. In other words the clamp element and actuator cannot be moved out of clamping position either by the resilience of tab 19 or by side pressure applied to the shearing head unit. Preferably, of course, the parts are designed to assume a slightly over-deadcenter position to ensure a more positive locking To free the head unit for removal, operating arm 5 is moved backtowards its Fig. 4 position, the initial movement serving to release the detent .arm from its notch and continued movement engaging the toe 10 with the corner of tab 17 and thereby sliding thethrust member back to its former position.

As will have been noted, the inner" cutter actuator- (22 of Fig. 1, 38 of Fig. 8 and 47 of Fig. 10) passes through and its movement is accommodated by the opening 51 in the actuator element.

It will be understood that the described form of locking means and the applications of it to three types of shearing head unit are illustrative only and that theinvention is susceptible of embodiment in various forms within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In an electric shaver of the kind including a case incorporating jaws, a shearing head unit located in the jaws and lug means associated with the lower portion of the head unit, the improvement which comprises: head unit loelri ng means associated with the case beneath the head unit, including a thrust element bodily slidable towardv and fromthe plane of one of the jaws and, in the former movement, abutting the said lug means and urging the head unit laterally into clamping engagement with the said jaw, and an actuator for the thrust element projecting from beneath the head unit at one end thereof.

2. In an electric shaver of the kind including a case incorporating jaws, a shearing head unit located in the jaws and lug means associated with the lower portion of the heaclunit the improvement which comprises: head unit loclii g means associatedwith the case beneath the head unit including, a thrust element bodily slidable toward andfro m: the plane of one of the jaws and, in the former movement, abutting the said lug means and urging the headunit laterally into clamping engagement with the said. jaw, the locking means also including an actuator element, one of said elements incorporating an abutment and the other a fork having portions disposed on opposite sides-of the abutment, whereby the thrust element is movable by the actuator element both into andv out of. itsclamping position.

3'; man electric shaver of the kind including a case incorporating 139115,} a shearing head unit located in the jaws andwlu gmeans accessible from the underside of the head. unit, the improvement which comprises: head unit locking. means associated with the case beneath the head unit, including a; thrust element bodily slidable toward and{ from. theplane done of the jaws and, in the former movement, abutting the said lug means and urging the head: unit laterally into clamping engagement with. the said jaw, the locking means also including a separate manually rotatable actuator element adapted in one direction of movement to urge the thrust member into and in the opposite direction of movement to withdraw the thrust member from its head unit clamping position, said actuator element projecting from beneath the head unit at one end thereof.

4. In an electric shaver of the kind including a case incorporating. jaws, a shearing head unit located in the jaws and lug means accessible from the underside of the head unit, the improvement which comprises: head unit locking means associated with the case beneath the head unit, including an element slidably mounted in the case beneath. and transversely of the jaws for linear movement into engagement with a side face of the said lug means to clamp the head unit laterally against a jaw from beneath the head at one end-thereof.

References Cited in: the file of this patent Y UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,056,228 

